How To Study Effectively: Two Simple Tips To Create More Free Time

By Lachlan Haynes

Did you know that time is actually the most important resource you have. Why? Well, it's the one thing in your life that is not renewable. Once you spend it you can't get it back and you certainly can't ever get more of it. No matter what. You can never ever get more time.

But more important than understanding that time is your most important resource is knowing that there are no guarantees about how much time you have left. I don't mean to shock you, but you have no idea if you have 50 years left or 50 seconds left. There is no way you can predict how much time you have left. Sure, you can make a guess. But that's all it is - a guess. Unfortunately, most people have no idea how valuable their time is and they spend it like it will never end! Everything they want to achieve will happen "one day" or "at some point".

In truth the way humans approach time is completely flawed. There is no guarantee on time. You could have 60 years or 60 seconds left. There is one thing you can be certain of though. You can be certain that you don't know how much time you have left. So, can you see that your time is valuable and not to be wasted?

The real question is what are you doing with your time? Are you working towards something special? Are you filling your time with things you love? Or are you wasting your most precious resource? Whittling it away day after day with empty pursuits that don't really take you anywhere? The bad news is no one can create more time. I don't care what you do, you can't create time. You can however save time, and if you save time you can have more free time.

Free time is about choice. You get to choose how to spend it. You get to decide. No-one can tell you how to spend your free time - it's totally up to you! That's why it's free. How much free time do you truly have in your life? And how much would you like to have? Life is short. Your time is short. Today is the day for you to decide that you are going to take back your time and start doing things differently. It's time to save your time and create more free time! Let's look at a couple of tips to help you do this.

Number one: Add lots of short breaks into your study schedule. Four 15-minute breaks each night is one hour of free time. If you do that from Monday to Friday that's five extra hours of free time this week! If you don't take breaks regularly your mind will wander anyway and you will be in a "junk time" phase - where no work is being completed but you are still "studying". If you feel like you've lost focus always take a break.

Number two: There are certain times that are what we call "dead time". Dead time is time when you're not working towards any of your goals but it's also not free time. It's just dead time. For example, you might be walking the dog, riding your bike, sitting on the bus or in a car (not being driven by you!), or waiting at the train station for the train to come. This is time that isn't used for anything much - so start using it.

Perhaps you could read over some notes, look at some flash cards, do any reading you need to do (not if you are driving!), listen to a recording you made of something you need to learn, practice a speech or watch a video? The point is that we all have a great deal of dead time in our lives. We don't really notice it, it just happens. But it happens every day. The point is that if you can spend 30 minutes of dead time getting ahead, you are 2-3 hours ahead each week. That's worth thinking about isn't it?

It's time to start valuing your time more than you ever have before. Remember, your time is always coming to an end. You just don't know when that end point is. I hope for you that it's still 100 years away. But there's a good chance it's less than that. Much less! So make every minute count. Save as much time as you can and spend your life doing something meaningful to you. Good luck.

About the Author:

HelpMeToStudy.org is the best online resource for learning new study skills, changing your study habits and finding the best studying tips available. We provide free access to the world's best and most engaging study resources and strategies that will help you change the way you think about study - and even better - show you how to study effectively: How To Study Effectively | Studying Tips